Simone Russell
Simone Monica Russell is a fictional character on the NBC/DirectTV soap opera Passions. Character History Simone was born in Harmony on March 7, 1984. She is the youngest child and the younger daughter of TC Russell and Eve Russell. She is the younger sister of Whitney Russell. Simone's best friend is Kay Bennett. Simone was initially characterized by the show's official website through her "major crush on street-kid Chad Harris since he came to town". When assuming the role in 2001, Pharris said that her preparation consisted of consulting with her friends about Simone, Whitney, and Chad, and incorporating her own life experiences into her interpretation of the character. She commented that working closely with the producers allowed her to draw on her family background for her performance. While discussing the connection to her family, she stated that she used her father's temper as inspiration for playing Simone. Simone was initially portrayed as one of the series' supporting characters, but gained more prominence during a storyline in which she comes out as a lesbian. Kalouria defended the show's treatment of the character's sexuality as a serious commentary on the topic. During an interview about the storyline, he highlighted "sexual identity isn't a passing fancy" and "this is where Simone is...I can assure you we're not going to make light of this particular topic." During the story arc involving her girlfriend Rae Thomas, Simone was noted for her naivety when approaching relationships and sex. Simone's sexuality is initially regarded as "a badge of shame" by the series' characters. Simone Russell is the youngest daughter of T. C. and Eve Russell, and the younger sister of Whitney Russell. The family lives in the fictional town of Harmony. Simone's early storylines concentrate on her reluctant participation in her friend Kay Bennett's schemes to separate Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald from Charity Standish and her attraction to Chad-Harris Crane. Chad and Whitney hide their relationship from Simone to the point where Chad pretends to be Simone's boyfriend to keep her happy. After catching Chad and Whitney having sex, she ends the relationship with him and tells everyone in Harmony about his relationship with her sister. Disconnected from her sister, Simone becomes close friends with Kay's younger sister Jessica Bennett and Miguel's younger sister Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald, and turns to them for support. Simone acts primarily in a supporting role for these two characters' storylines, for instance advising Jessica to divorce her abusive husband Spike Lester and seek professional help for her drug addiction. She briefly dates John Hastings, the son of David Hastings. At the time, John was mistakenly believed to be Grace Standish's son and the half-brother of Kay and Jessica. Simone's relationship with John ends in 2004 when he moves to Italy with David and Grace. In mid-2005, Simone comes out as a lesbian by revealing to her family her relationship with Rae Thomas. The family reacts negatively to her sexual orientation. T. C. beats her and says he is ashamed to be her father. Eve panics and is concerned that her daughter's reputation will suffer if the rest of Harmony learns of her sexuality. Simone's great-aunt, Irma Johnson, describes homosexuality as a sin and calls her "vile" and "disgusting". Simone turns to her mother for emotional support after Rae rejects her declarations of love by revealing that she has no interest in a committed relationship. In December 2005, Eve, Julian, Liz, and T. C. find a video from Alistair Crane in which he claims to have hired Rae to seduce Simone and "turn" her into a lesbian. Rae later explains that the money is intended to start a lesbian club and that she was never hired to "turn" Simone gay. As she reconciles with Rae, Simone reconnects with her family. Her father, who recently suffered from a stroke following a car accident, apologizes for his homophobic behavior toward her. Her mother also becomes more supportive of her relationship. Rae finds out Vincent Clarkson was framing Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald for his girlfriend Fancy Crane's rape. On February 12, 2007, Vincent stabs Rae to death before she can reveal his identity to Luis. Simone attempts to cope with Rae's death by helping Jessica through her pregnancy. She invites Jessica to live in Rae's old apartment so they can protect the baby from Spike. Eve, who was previously being blackmailed by Vincent, tells Simone the truth about Rae's murder. Simone leaves Harmony with her sister Whitney to start a new life in New Orleans. She does not appear during the show's run on DirecTV or in the series finale. In July 2008, Simone sends a letter to Kay congratulating her on her wedding to Miguel and includes a pair of earrings as the "something new". Overall Character Summary Simone is the free-spirited younger daughter of T.C. and Eve Russell. All her life she has been held up against her older sister Whitney and found lacking by both her parents. The moment she met Chad Russell, she had a tremendous crush on him, defending him when Whitney would degrade him. Simone spent a lot of time helping Chad find his parents, and it was only a matter of time before she fell in love with him. She wasn't sure if he could ever return her feelings until he swore to her one day that he loved her. Simone was over the moon, but accepted it when Chad said they couldn't date because she was 'too young'. Time went by, but just as Simone was beginning to doubt Chad's feelings, he told her again that he loved her at the Crane estate. Shortly after that, she witness Chad in an embrace with her sister, and the shock of seeing the man she loved (who swore she loved her) kissing her sister sent her running out into the street where she was struck by a car. Simone ended up in a coma, but soon came out of it. She had completely forgotten what she saw before the accident, and was still happily in love with Chad. When her parents gave them permission to date and Chad officially proclaimed himself as her boyfriend, Simone was over the moon. The only cloud was her sister, Whitney. Simone just couldn't understand why Whitney kept flirting with Chad. After all, Chad was supposed to be HER boyfriend. It was only after Simone discovered the two of them together that the truth came out...Chad had never meant it when he told her he loved her, and was only pretending to be her boyfriend. To add insult to injury, both T.C. and Eve were too busy comforting Whitney to even look at Simone. Simone still hasn't gotten over the pain of being betrayed by her sister and the man who was pretending to be her boyfriend, and was truly devastated when she learned they were engaged. Since her breakup with Chad, Simone has been on the sidelines, watching Kay try to manipulate Miguel. She also formed a romantic alliance with John Hastings, although it was seldom seen on-screen. She re-emerged after Kay's accident, trying to comfort her friend, even though all Kay could talk about was how much she hated Charity. When Simone learned that her ex-boyfriend Chad was really her half-brother, she was devastated and, like Whitney, turned against her mother. It wasn't long before she was turning to her half-aunt Liz for comfort. Simone disappeared from the canvas for a time before reappearing and revealing to her family that she was a lesbian. She and Paloma soon teamed up to try to save Jessica from a life of prostitution while Simone tried to get her family to accept her sexuality as well as her relationship with Rae. After she and Paloma uncovered an unusual symbol in a series of paintings, they went to Rome to investigate, where they soon found themselves trying to save Jessica from Spike yet again. Education * Harmony High School (graduated 2001) * Harmony Community College Crimes Committed * Has joined with Kay Bennett to help her deceive and land Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald. * Helped Kay set up the plan to dump fish guts on Charity at the prom.